MultiCharts: Trading Software for Automated Trading and Backtesting

kevin kolodzy

Can you provide an estimate of when the current beta phase will be complete and the next version of MCFX will be released? Thanks.

kevin kolodzy

Without actually seeing the code, I can't be entirely sure, but if your strategy code is applied to a stock chart and that stock's price movement does not satisfy the conditions for the stop loss, the flag would not be set. You could also avoid setting the flag unless MarketPosition = 1 or -1 (i.e.,...

kevin kolodzy

It would be very nice to have the ability to plot a moving average or other function on the performance report equity curve, and even better if this could be tied into strategy operation or what-if simulations. (You can play with this by exporting the information to Excel and calculating a moving av...

kevin kolodzy

Andrew, I think that makes sense, but it does mean code and settings ported directly from TS need tweaking to adjust for the difference. If it is known that this is the case, it can be handled.

Are slippage and commissions handled the same way in MCFX for these exits?

kevin kolodzy

I don't think this is possible, but you could code a workaround. Write the 1m strategy buys and sells to a text file. Write an indicator to read the text file and mark your 5m chart in some manner at the correct times. Or, you could format the text file to contain buy/sell commands that occur at the...

kevin kolodzy

I don't believe the equivalent functions are available. They are not in the MCFX version, but I have requested that they be added as I like to monitor the equity curve via an indicator too. I don't understand why the strategy version of the NetProfit function can't work in an indicator. TS has that ...

kevin kolodzy

Enhancement Requests: The performance report has a lot of information, but a key piece that I can't find (and which is essential, in my opinion) is the input parameter settings that produced the results. Is there an easy way to obtain - save and/or print - the strategy input parameters? This is the ...

kevin kolodzy

I can confirm the problem. I just opened a minute chart at 7:04 EST (New York, USA time). The last data point time is at 19:04, and the one prior to it is at 16:59 - so just over 2 hours of data is missing. No doubt, sometime after midnight local time, the data can be refreshed and will fill in the ...

kevin kolodzy

Don, you make excellent points about the testing process and I hope you continue testing and sharing your results. I do test things with a demo account, but also test live - I think there may be differences in how they are treated which may not show up until live testing. I'm not too concerned about...

kevin kolodzy

Once, again, trade not executed even though appears on chart and automation is on. Any suggestions on how to figure out the problem? This was on GBPJPY, short 10,000 units.

kevin kolodzy

I haven't had any problems with disconnects either, which is a welcome improvement over that other platform! I have had some missing trades in the last couple of days that are clearly missing, and not simply because I was using contracts instead of units for sizing. Whether the missing trades are re...

kevin kolodzy

Whatever the root cause, I expect that it will get fixed in reasonable time. (The sooner the better, but I'd rather it be right than fast!) Order entry is at the core of all automation, and without reliability in this key area, not much else matters. Correct entries (both market and limit orders), c...

kevin kolodzy

What happens if a strategy issues a Buy order, but the order is not filled? (E.g., the price moves too quickly to allow a fill, or there is insufficient volume.) The strategy is long, but there is no real position to match it. When the strategy Sells, will this create a short position? If so, this s...

kevin kolodzy

Are Sell and Sell Short treated identically? E.g., in a long strategy that buys and then sells, if the buy generated by the strategy is closed early manually, will the sell in that strategy cause a short position to be opened? It appears that this occurs in MCFX, which should not happen. If so, ther...

kevin kolodzy

The strategy gave a signal, which appears on the chart, and automation is set up for the chart. However, the trade was NOT entered on FXCM. I waited 5 minutes, but no entry occured. I finally entered manually. This is not the same issue as I had the other day with incorrect positions sizing (units v...

kevin kolodzy

Sample code and workspace has been sent for your analysis. Thanks. So far today, the latest 2 trades are showing double the number of positions they should (60,000 units for one, 20,000 for the other), even though the maximum size setting in the format strategy dialog is set to the max I want to all...

kevin kolodzy

Andrew, Yes, I'll replace the proprietary entry code and send you a copy within 24 hours. Much of the other code is very "sensitive" so I ask that you do not publish it anywhere, and use it only internally to try to replicate the problem. I will include a workspace with the appropriate pair and sett...

kevin kolodzy

My strategy specifies the number of contracts to go long or short. Position sizing is set to range from 1 to 3 mini contracts (10,000 to 30,000 units). The strategy on the chart shows the correct size. However: the actual quantity bought or sold does NOT match - I've had positions open today with 40...

kevin kolodzy

Andrew, Your 4:16pm post today quoted my post that highlighted the basic difference - having to multiply number of contracts by the number of units per contract to comply with FXCM order sizing standards (which differ from the basic TS sizing that only needs number of contracts/lots - as I mentioned...

kevin kolodzy

Andrew, I'm looking forward to your support of both stop and limit orders - I hope the syntax and implementation will not require major coding changes to existing strategies, but it is more important that it work robustly vs. any minor inconveniences to modify my code. Now that I've figured out that...

kevin kolodzy

I didn't try this strategy on a demo account - I only tried a simple strategy that did not have any sizing parameters. And my first experiments with the real account used the included moving average cross LE and LX strategies, which do not use any position sizing - they simply Buy/Sell next bar at m...

kevin kolodzy

This is a real account, Don. My strategy uses money management/position sizing logic to determine the number of contracts. In TS, 1 contract with a standard account is 1 full-size lot, and the trade is executed as 1 lot. However, in MCFX, I would have to specify a buy of multiples of 100,000 units (...

kevin kolodzy

I watched a signal hit, and it was NOT executed. The popup said something to the effect that the quantity must be divisible by 10000 (it's a mini account). On the format strategy dialog the fixed shares/contracts is set to 10000 and the max to 50000. The strategy issues a buy for 1 contract. Does th...

kevin kolodzy

It gets stranger! This morning I checked the various charts and automation settings, and found that it had turned ITSELF off overnight. I had to reenable automation on the charts. I'm wondering if there is a timeout issue, or if it somehow shuts off if there is a data interruption, for example. Mari...

kevin kolodzy

Don, Yes, demo worked fine, except I never got the hedging turned off. And real signals were generated off of a 10tick chart with a simple moving average cross strategy - just to see it work, which it did. With all the same settings and account info, I have yet to see a trade from my own strategies ...

kevin kolodzy

I am trying to test automated execution with MCFX and Order2Go using a real mini account at FXCM. The trades appear on the chart, but are not executed. I've set the "Fixed Shares/Contracts" to 10,000 which should be correct for a mini account. The Auto Trading tab is set up with the correct account ...

kevin kolodzy

That all sounds promising, Marina. As I posted earlier today in another thread, automation reliability is absolutely essential, at least for me. If you can achieve that, you'll have something very few other platforms can offer. Anyone can put together a platform with decent charts and indicators tha...

kevin kolodzy

This is an excellent request. Identifying any outages, interruptions, disconnects, etc., and sounding an audible alert (and perhaps email, pager, cell-phone alert options) would be great to have. Also, it would be great if the server could detect when a client is disconnected, so that any orders or ...

kevin kolodzy

On a single chart - I agree. No point in being both long and short. I've asked FXCM to turn off hedging on my account for now, so I can (soon, hopefully) test live without the complexities of multiple contrary positions. My strats worked well on TS, except for the problems with data interruptions an...

kevin kolodzy

Don, I have to respectfully disagree. Many times I have profitably opened a short-term countrary position to my longer-term position. If my short-term position closes my longer-term position, then I'd have to reopen the longer-term position once the shorter one is concluded. If the price is better, ...

kevin kolodzy

Okay, if I understand you correctly, PlaceOrder IS supported, but some of the GetAppInfo function's status parameters such as aiMacroEnabled and aiMacroConf are not. I can work with that, if PlaceOrder is supported.

kevin kolodzy

Donald, are you referring to the I_ClosedEquity and I_OpenEquity functions in TS? If so, they are not presently available, and may not be for several months as I understand it.

kevin kolodzy

I'm not going to try to follow all of that just yet, Donald, but have you tried to assign a set of optimization results to the strategy on the chart by double-clicking a row? When I did so, it wiped out ALL of the strategy's inputs and put them back to the default values. If confirmed, this is a sig...

kevin kolodzy

I've since discovered that the macro-related status items are not supported: GetAppInfo(aiMacroEnabled) GetAppInfo(aiMacroConf) Can I assume that PlaceOrder is not supported? This is difficult to test without setting up an account and forcing certain conditions to occur - it is easier to ask if it i...

kevin kolodzy

Marina, I'm always in favor of having additional options available. However, the default behavior should be to close existing positions and then opening new positions in the opposite direction. That is the usual and normal situation, I believe, and is the safer default. In the future, when more than...

kevin kolodzy

Thanks for the update, Marina. I fully understand you must follow a development schedule and only change it if there are major issues. Often, it is possible to write a function with both default behavior (that strictly emulates TS for the "purists") and optional behavior that implements a more ratio...

kevin kolodzy

Yes, the problem seems to be with certain pairs. Of the 6 I follow presntly, the two xxxUSD are missing data: gbpusd and nzdusd. usdcad and several Yen pairs are okay.

kevin kolodzy

A quick fix - format the symbol compression from 1 Day to 24 Hour.

Another interesting discovery:

Add a 24-hour bar chart as data 2. Change the original chart from 1-day to 24-hour, and then back to 1 day. You now have daily data again in the main chart for the period after 12/24/07! Bizarre.

kevin kolodzy

Since my previous post, MCFX crashed when I tried to reload a chart, and on daily charts there is no data between 12/24/07 and today.

kevin kolodzy

I haven't reloaded any charts since Sunday, and my usd/cad daily data appears to be intact for Dec 2007 through present (and is correct further back as well).

So, this may be a new data delivery issue. Of course this is a beta server, so I hope all of these problems will be resolved soon.

kevin kolodzy

I think they're saying to adjust the computer's clock to GMT+2 - the chart only has two selections, as you've noticed. You can right-click the clock in the task bar tray, or access date and time in the computer's control panel.

kevin kolodzy

Can you tell me if the PlaceOrder function is supported, and if so, are there any differences between the MCFX and TS implementations? Sample use: PO_Rslt = PlaceOrder( "Market", // OrderName "Once", //Frequency sAccountNumber, //Account "Buy", //Action "Forex", //SymbolCategory GetSymbolName, //MyS...

kevin kolodzy

It's unfortunate that you've chosen to perpetuate the distinction, since it seems artificial - and without supporting the I_ functions (at least at present), there are things that simply won't work or cannot be done in MCFX that I can do in TS. An important issue for me and several colleagues is equ...

kevin kolodzy

Do post more about the alternate version of order2go and how to get it - sounds like something I'd be interested in downloading soon.

kevin kolodzy

I think I read somewhere in these forums that hedging will be a selection from within MCFX in a later release - is that correct?

kevin kolodzy

Nice work, Donald. I haven't gotten that far in my testing so far, but that is critical information. Is that with hedging on or off at FXCM?

kevin kolodzy

There is no easy and reliable way in TS 8.3 to get the actual entry price - at best it may be correct, but can't be relied upon especially if more than 1 lot or contract is purchased (the fills may be partial, leading to an Average entry price). I've found that unless you are dealing with relatively...

kevin kolodzy

As for NetProfit and OpenPositionProfit, these words work the same way as in TS. Okay, so these words will work in strategies as in TS - but, they cannot be used in indicators? Is there a reason why they cannot - that limitation in TS seems to make no sense, so I am curious as to why you are persis...

kevin kolodzy

I can change my computer time to whatever will work, but that is a temporary solution only. It will not be reasonable for all users to do this.

For now, can anyone suggest the correct time zone setting?

kevin kolodzy

I have an indicator that I'm trying to convert from TS. It uses I_ClosedEquity and I_OpenEquity. What are the MCFX functions corresponding to these? (NetProfit and OpenPositionProfit give compiler errors.) I also have a strategy that uses NetProfit and OpenPositionProfit - these appear to compile co...

kevin kolodzy

The problem persists and is easy to replicate. With an existing chart that has been open awhile, in the early evening (after 5pm EST USA), do Ctrl-R. Any bars that WERE present past the 5pm session change are lost. I hope you can find and fix this problem soon! I'd like to try some live test trades,...

kevin kolodzy

If one user can overload the server in that fashion, I hope that you will have sufficient servers and bandwidth to accomodate hundreds or perhaps thousands of users making requests frequently when the beta phase is complete.

kevin kolodzy

Andrew, Your reply raises another issue. If FXCM is not supplying data, but GAIN is, and charts are using a combined datasource, that may result in BAD trades. If FXCM is closed for trading and FXCM is my broker, then acting on data from another source makes the situation worse, not better. If FXCM ...

kevin kolodzy

Please let me know how that turns out.

kevin kolodzy

I don't know if this is possible, but if it is I need someone to explain how, and if not, I'd like to see this capability added ASAP. The FXCM manual trading platform allows entry of stops (optionally trailing stops based on pip amounts) and targets to exist on any open position, and reside on the t...

kevin kolodzy

No closed trades, only opens new ones, but I know the reason for that, and there are two possible solutions that come to mind. FXCM has a setting on accounts that allows "hedging". There is a post somewhere in these forums about that, I think. When it's ON (the default), your code has to close a pos...

kevin kolodzy

Figured it out. The max shares/contracts to position defaulted to 65000. The fixed shares/conracts per trade (note: do not specify contracts, specify in UNITS) needs to be 100000. Since 100000 (or 1) is not evenly divisible by 65000, it generates an error. The 65000 must be changed to 100000 and the...

kevin kolodzy

Yes, I have that installed. Any other ideas?

kevin kolodzy

I started up MCFX at the start of trading Sunday. Considerable data is missing from the charts. Bars are missing on 15 min charts, and a 1 min chart. 1 min starts at 1700 and the next bar is at 1946. Clearly there is data in the interim. Is this a data server problem, or something else. Is there som...

kevin kolodzy

I set up a demo account with FXCM. I activated autotrading on a chart in the MCFX Demo workspace (top right USDJPY 15min MACD) using the demo account paramters/login. The chart is showing new trades, but none are showing in FXCM demo account trades list (open or closed trades). Should this be workin...

kevin kolodzy

I've also been with TS, but lately have been unhappy with reliability. MCFX has some rough edges and lacks some things which I hope can be added, fixed, or worked around. The people here do seem responsive and interested in making this work - TS is not very responsive except in rare instances, thoug...

kevin kolodzy

No, I didn't notice if they matched, since I wasn't watching for that, but will now that you've brought it to my attention. I only started playing with this software yesterday, so I have lots to learn and investigate.

kevin kolodzy

Donald, since MCFX doesn't have a TradeManager component and does not distinguish between indicators and strategies for certain functions, there are differences from TS. I believe you should use the function "openpositionequity". (If I recall the name correctly - start typing "ope" in your code and ...

kevin kolodzy

One of the posts listed the ports to use for different data feeds: 7000: FXCM 8000: GAIN 9000: "Third" The default on setup is 10000. It appears the port cannot be changed (I attempted to do so after 5pm Friday) in order to get more data - port 10000 has only let me retrieve 4 months or data regardl...

Search found 64 matches

Strategy Performance Report - Info Request

Another Position Matching Scenario

Sell vs. Sell Short and Position Matching

Order Not Executed - NEW Problem

Major Error/BUG with Position Sizing

Buy X contracts BUG

Orders Not Executed - Position Sizing BUG

PlaceOrder function

Need Help with Profit Functions

Needed: Issue Stop Loss and Target Orders on Entry

Missing data

Automated trading not working

Data Servers and Ports, Etc.